Painting With Her Eyes
by alli524
Summary: Sleeping Warrior AU, where Mulan is an officer and her partner, Phillip goes missing while investigating a corrupt tattoo parlour that makes a threat on his fiance's life. Mulan and Aurora work together to find him. My first proper story, am welcome to feedback and reviews :) Previously named 'Wraith Tattoo Parlour'
1. Chapter 1

_On hearing his computer chime, Phillip spun and tapped a button on the keyboard to bring the screen back to life. He clicked into his email address and paused, frowning.  
The sender was unknown and the subject line blank.  
He dragged the arrow over to the trash button and his finger hovered over the mouse, considering the likelihood of a virus or spam.  
Then he shrugged and changed his mind, opening the message with a lazy tap.  
There was no message; only several jpg attachments, each named with a date and time. He sat up a little straighter, his frown deepening as he opened the most recent photo – taken only hours ago._

_A picture filled his screen and his mouth fell open with an audible pop as he was greeted with an image of his fiancé in her studio. The shot was taken by not to far a distance; her clothes the same as the ones she left in that morning. It didn't look as if she was aware she was being photographed. Her hair was messy and pushed to one side and she still hadn't taken off her black coat._

_Phillip hurriedly opened the next few attachments – Aurora at work, Aurora at home, cooking, jogging, reading, laughing... the earliest photo had been taken over five months ago._

_His heart beating hard, Phillip rose quickly and flung his jacket over his shoulders, tossed his hat crookedly over his cropped head and snatched his badge and gun out of his second drawer._

_This was a threat and Phillip knew it._

_He briefly considered calling in his partner, Mulan, but he knew that she would only slow him down; force him to report it through the proper channels, wait for backup, and by then who knew what might have happened to Aurora._

_He hastily pulled out his phone, dialling his fiancé's number, as he ran out to the car._

* * *

Aurora felt like her scalp was on fire and her face thick with piercing pains. Still, she fought. She was vaguely aware of a crowd developing around her, but more aware of the acidic taste rising in her throat.

_Don't throw up,_ she thought aggressively.

She felt a hard smack on her throat and yelped, throwing her weight forward onto her attacker.

She couldn't remember how she'd gotten into this fight, or what this skinny blonde with long nails had done to offend her, but Aurora wasn't taking a second to work on her memory; she had a fight to win.

She wound an arm back and struck the girl hard on the left side of her face – a hit that sent her to the ground. Aurora took the moment to her advantage and pressed herself into the girl, hovering over her as she sent punch after punch into her. Her stomach, her face, her chest.

Then she felt arms grip her from behind and hoist her up into the air. She struggled for only a second before she relaxed. Seeing the girl sobbing on the ground, holding her face, she knew that the fight was won.

"What are you doing?!" she heard a familiar voice hiss into her ear before the grasp around her waist was released. Without anything supporting her, she slumped to the group.

She blinked a few times and cast her eyes around. She was outside, on the curb. She looked up to see Mulan standing over her in her uniform.

"Evening, officer," Aurora slurred, doing her best impersonation of a smile.

"Stay here," Mulan said, exasperated.

The blue and red lights in front of her were making her dizzy so she closed her eyes and rested her face against her knees. She could hear Mulan arguing with an officer, although she couldn't make out any words. She tried to block them out by humming, but it only made her feel the lump in her throat rise.

She retched.

It had been exactly two months since Phillip had gone missing. Everyone knew who had done it. Phillip was, at the time, investigating a string of murders, all having a connection with Royce Mortimer, a drug kingpin who ran _Wraith_, a tattoo parlour. They were never able to take him down due to insufficient evidence. Apparently, Phillip was getting close when a threat was made on Aurora's life.

Phillip went after them alone and had not been seen or heard of since.

Aurora had barely slept since, thinking about what had happened to him. What was maybe still happening to him.

She retched again.

She felt a hand close around her wrist and she was standing up again. Mulan had returned.

"Get in the car."


	2. Chapter 2

Aurora woke slowly, feeling starchy blankets rub against her sore skin. She sat up and squeezed her eyes shut for a few seconds, warding off a headache, before she opened them and was rudely greeted by a foreign room.  
She was still wearing her dress from last night, her black shoes placed neatly at the side of the bed.  
It took her less than a second to remember that her handbag had gone missing sometime back at the club so she didn't have her keys to get into her house so Mulan had taken her back to hers.  
She groaned at the memory, throwing herself back onto the white pillows.

She rolled over to see that Mulan had left her a glass of water and some ibuprofen on the bedside table. Aurora sat up and took two, following them quickly with the glass.  
She took a second to look around, taking in the room. Aurora was a tidy person, but this was obscene. Everything was at right angles, almost clinically clean and the whole room was four different shades of white, with occasional wooden accents. On the timber seat to her other side, Aurora found a camel-coloured towel and some clothing, with a perfectly square, perfectly white note atop it.

_I've gone to work. I will be back a little after two p.m._

_Make yourself at home._

The script was rushed for Mulan, but still very tidy.

Aurora wondered if she was being arrested or charged at all. The note wasn't very helpful. She scanned the room for a clock, finding one on the west wall, telling her that it was almost one.

She pushed the covers off and stood.  
Slowly.  
Slower.

She clutched at her head and tried to push away the first thoughts of Phillip of the day.  
Trying to find the bathroom, Aurora found herself in the lounge.  
It was similar to the room – all whites and browns, but there was a small, organised mess of papers spanning the coffee table that had spread onto some of the carpet.  
Aurora didn't have to look any closer to know that they were about Phillip and Wraith.  
She swallowed hard and walked quickly, shuffling into the closest room which, thankfully, was the bathroom.  
Aurora quickly smirked at the camel tile accent that circled her on the walls and the fact that Mulan colour coded even her soaps to match her bathroom.  
She peeled off her bright yellow dress, wincing as it passed over the bruises she'd grown overnight on her arms. Once naked, she walked to the small mirror over the faucet and examined her face.  
Her lower jaw was a little red. Not enough for anyone to notice unless they were studying her.  
Her eyes were smudged black and she searched the drawers for a dark facecloth but apparently Mulan only bought them in white. She settled for running some water over toilet paper and dabbed at her lower eyes roughly, before giving up and stepping into the shower.

It wasn't until the water was running over her that she let herself cry.

* * *

Aurora was still at her house when Mulan returned. She was making the bed, a towel wrapped around her head, trying to beat the lumps out of the duvet.

"Leave that," Mulan said, entering the room with two paper bags in her hands.

"Am I not doing it properly?" Aurora asked, stopping.

"No, it's fine," Mulan lied, "I'll get it later, that's all."

Aurora raised her eyebrows knowingly, taking last night's clothes up off of the seat next to the bed and rolling them into a ball.

"Thanks for the clothes," Aurora said, gesturing down at herself. Mulan had left her out a loose white tee and dark grey sweatpants, "And... everything else."

Mulan set down the bags and lifted and released the duvet, letting it lay flat on top of the bed.

"No problem," she mumbled, embarrassed, as she straightened out two pillows to rest at the head of the bed.

"Am I... being charged or...?" Aurora trailed off, "What happened?"

"I explained to the officer in charge that you were Phillip's fiancé and he-" Mulan realised that she'd just referred to Aurora as Phillip's fiancé in the past tense and cut herself off. Aurora, who'd heard it too, pretended she didn't, busying herself with the brown paper bags that Mulan had entered with.

"What's this?"

"Lunch," Mulan replied, "Well... breakfast?"

Aurora opened one and found a bagel inside. It smelled beautiful and her stomach lurched. She didn't realise how hungry she was.

"It looks great," she said apologetically, "But I'm gluten intolerant."

Mulan took one bag from her and spun it to show 'GF' scrawled on the side.

"'Gluten free'," she explained, "I remembered Phillip mentioning it."

Aurora smiled and took the bags, taking them into the kitchen, figuring that Mulan wasn't the kind of person that would eat in any other room.  
She figured right and Mulan followed her, gratefully.  
Aurora took a seat at the small counter, waiting for Mulan to plate their food before she dug in.  
It wasn't until she'd gulped over half of the bagel down when she took a breath and turned to Mulan.

"I saw the papers," she said, "In the lounge?" she clarified, seeing the confused look on Mulan's face. Mulan quickly bit off more than she should have had into her mouth, giving herself time to chew and think about a response.

"You're looking for him, aren't you?"

Mulan said nothing.  
Aurora bit her lip and picked a few crumbs off of her shirt.

"They told me that he'd stopped being a priority; that they weren't looking for a missing person anymore – they're looking for a corpse."

Mulan looked uncomfortable.

"And they are in no hurry to find a dead body," Aurora said, "So no one's looking for him."

"I am," Mulan mumbled through her half-chewed mouthful.

"I know," Aurora said, "And I want to help."

Mulan almost scoffed but held it back, taking her time to bite through her food, thinking of a way to delicately tell Aurora that she would only slow her down.

"With no disrespect, Aurora, I don't think you're qualified to help me bring down a drug dynasty," she said finally.

"I was training to be a lawyer," Aurora sighed, "did Phillip ever tell you that?"

Mulan shook her head, breaking off pieces of her bagel to distract herself.

"I quit three years ago and decided to dance full-time, instead, with Phillip's encouragement," Aurora sounded wistful, "I was only years away from finishing my degree."

Mulan was wondering why Aurora was sharing this with her when a thought occurred to her.

"You know his disappearance wasn't your fault?" Mulan said it like a question.

"I should have finished my law degree. I could have helped him find a loophole and helped him bring down Wraith and instead I was useless and he is gone."

She was happy she'd cried everything out in the shower; her eyes were bone dry.

"Aurora," Mulan's hand closed around her wrist and she forced her to look her full in the face, "He has a dangerous job. And something bad happened, but it was not your fault."

"You think it's your fault, don't you?" Aurora countered.

Mulan dropped Aurora's arm and averted her gaze.

"They told me about the photos of me that were found on his computer shortly after her went missing," Aurora said, "They threatened my life so he went in alone. There's no way you could have known that he was going."

"I was on a break," Mulan said breathlessly, "I was gone for under half an hour; he should have waited."

"He didn't," Aurora said simply.

Mulan looked up at her. She had the look of someone deeply in pain.

"Does your jaw hurt?" Mulan asked.

Aurora shook her head and dragged her hand along her jaw line absently.

"I'd forgotten about it."

"What happened last night, Aurora?"

Aurora sighed and dropped her hands into her lap.

"I made him dinner," she said, "I forgot he wasn't coming home." She stopped and smiled, "And then I found his whiskey stash."

"Oh, his whiskey," Mulan laughed.

"He really does love whiskey," Aurora said, "I should probably replace it before he comes back."

Mulan took her hand and sighed sadly.

"I'm going to find him," Aurora said, giving the hand a gentle squeeze, "And I could use your help."


	3. Chapter 3

"One, two, three, four," Aurora chanted out loud, hitting her poses expertly, "one, two, three and four."

Pirouette, into jetѐ and arms at fourth.  
She stepped out of her final pose and smiled, pushing her hair out of her face and wiping some sweat from her forehead. She breathed out, slow and long, and bent to pick up a drink bottle.  
She was preparing for a retelling of Superman, where she'd been hired to play Lois. It was a stupid ballet, with lots of jumps and harnesses, and a plot that was either incredibly difficult to follow or didn't make any sense, but it was a job and it was paying well. Tickets for the first week had already sold out.  
She'd overstayed the two hours that she'd booked the room for, so she snatched up her bag and scurried out to the grateful sighs of the teenagers waiting on the other side of the door.

"Sorry," she said as they shoved their way past her.

Her phone made its familiar jingle so Aurora dug through her bag to find it.

"Hello?" she answered breathlessly.

"Are you still at the studio?"

Aurora frowned and pulled the phone away from her face, studying the incoming number. It was unknown. She must not have had Mulan's number programmed into her phone.  
How strange, when they'd been in each others' lives for so many years. But then, they'd always had Phillip as their only common link. It wasn't as if they had ever had a reason to call each other before; Aurora had never really been all that interested in getting to know Mulan.  
She was just Phillip's starchy police friend. And Aurora had always had a suspicion that Mulan might have had more than just friendly feelings toward him.

"Yeah," she said, "I was just on my way out now."

"I'm out the front," Mulan said, "Waiting in my car just in front of the steps."

"I'll be there in about three minutes," Aurora said, ending the call, hoping that Mulan would appreciate her precision.

She hurried down the stairs, taking them two at a time, and then three, gripping the banister tightly.  
Mulan must have found some sort of evidence. Or found a trail.  
Aurora felt a smile bubble to her lips as she hit open the heavy entry doors and headed down the steps into the silver car that was exactly where Mulan said it would be.

"You were two minutes," she heard Mulan mumble in a voice she supposed she wasn't supposed to hear.

"What's new?" Aurora asked excitedly, buckling herself in.

Mulan checked her mirrors carefully before pulling out and heading out of the long driveway.

"I'm not sure," Mulan said, "But I just got a call from a contact who is a known associate of Wraith and Mortimer and I promised to bring you along if I heard anything, so here I am.

"Did he say he had information?"

"He didn't say much of anything," Mulan replied, "Just left me a whispered message saying that he could help me. That was all."

"He must mean help you with Phillip, right?"

Mulan just shrugged.  
Aurora sat back in her seat, drumming on her knees restlessly.

"You're not going to get dressed?" Mulan asked.

Aurora rolled her eyes and pulled a dress out from her backpack. She caught Mulan's disapproving eye and she sighed.

"I didn't know I was going in to a meeting with a criminal today, okay?"

Mulan raised her eyebrows and turned her attention back to the road as Aurora shrugged her way into her clothing.

* * *

"Well, that was a waste of time," Aurora said, throwing herself onto Mulan's couch.

"He wasn't at any of his usual hangouts," Mulan said, frowning, "None of them. And no one claimed to even know who he was."

"I know," Aurora replied, "I was there."

Mulan ignored her.

"Wait, do you think he's missing now, too?"

"I have to make a call," Mulan said, exiting the room.

Aurora straightened up on the couch, leaning forward to inspect the papers in front of her.  
It was a mass of partial evidence and people making guesses about the last movements of Phillip Prince. Aurora swallowed hard. Last movements.  
Mulan sighed as she entered the room.

"I've reported our contact missing; I don't think they're going to do anything about it."

"They've given up on Phillip," Aurora said, "They think it's hopeless and dangerous."

"And they're letting Mortimer win."

Aurora didn't look up as she settled back into the couch with an armful of papers.


	4. Chapter 4

Aurora took her fourth circle around the block, this time actually daring to look inside of _Wraith_. She and Mulan had been searching for two months now and they'd still come up with nothing. She'd been pacing for what felt like seconds, but as she glanced down at the time on her phone she found that it had taken her almost half an hour to loop the large block as many times as she had. She was walking slowly, thinking about what she should do, when she finally just pushed the door open and stepped inside.  
As the heavily pierced girl at reception narrowed her eyes at her, Aurora realised what a foolish mistake she'd made; these people had been taking photos of her for months. They clearly knew what she looked like.  
But it was too late to back out now.  
With her heart in her stomach, Aurora took another step forward and cleared her throat.

"I'm here for Mortimer."

"Do you have an appointment?" the girl rolled her eyes.

"He should be expecting me."

The girl spun in her chair and stood, exiting through a door that Aurora hadn't noticed before.  
This was stupid. This was so, so stupid and Aurora didn't even know what she was going to say if she was faced with him.  
And yet, here he was, walking back from the back room with a crooked smile on his face. It was the first time she'd seen him outside of the photos in his files. She hadn't imagined him quite so large. He was covered in tattoos all except his face; it must have been difficult as he was quite a tall, wide man. And Aurora, who was small, felt like she was shrinking in his presence.

"Mrs Prince," he greeted her coolly.

"It's still 'Miss'," Aurora replied, "We're not married yet."

"Yet?" he laughed, "I heard that they'd dropped the search. I wouldn't want you to get your hopes up."

"Just return him," Aurora pleaded suddenly, "And we will leave you alone. But either way, I will find him and I will be the end of you."

For a split second that Aurora didn't notice, his confidence faltered.

"I would love to," he said, composure regained, "But I'm afraid I have no idea what you're talking about."

* * *

"Why would you go and see him?" Mulan was getting close to shouting.

"I was sick of beating around the bush," Aurora said biting her lip, "It was stupid, I know."

"I've put him under 24/7 surveillance and imagine how surprised I was to hear about your little visit," Mulan continued, "And people are starting to suspect that I've been sharing _confidential_ information with you – I could get fired, Aurora!"

Aurora groaned and slammed down her fork on the table.

"I was sick of doing nothing!"

Mulan sighed and looked down at her bowl. They were at Aurora and Phillip's house; Aurora had made too much pasta again and decided to invite her new friend around to eat with her while they discussed the case.  
She'd even tried holding back on the spices because she always added too much and found out that Mulan was more likely to enjoy blander foods. She was going to tell Mulan about her trip to the tattoo parlour after they'd finished eating but she'd never gotten the chance to come clean.  
Mulan said nothing and took her first bite of food. She coughed a little. That was a lot of Cajun.

"Sorry," Aurora said, "I'll put less in next time."

"It's lovely," Mulan said, taking a sip of water.

"No, it's not," Aurora laughed, "Phillip hated letting me season the food."

Mulan looked up at the small and delicate dancer and thought about her visiting the most feared tattoo artist in town. It was as brave as it was stupid. And Mulan so admired bravery.  
She scooped up a large forkful and jammed it in her mouth.


	5. Chapter 5

It was a further three months later, when Phillip had been missing for a total of seven months, that Aurora dipped into his whiskey stash again.  
She had been so sure that Mortimer would slip up, but he remained seemingly clean.  
She wasn't sure why, but she found herself at Mulan's house.

"Hey," Mulan greeted her, throwing the door open, strangely unsurprised that Aurora had turned up drunk and uninvited.

Aurora tripped in, hugging the bottle close to herself and slamming the door behind her.

"Seven months," she slurred.

"I know," Mulan replied. She was in the kitchen now, pulling down the bourbon from the highest shelf in her pantry. She got out two glasses and poured herself one, filling the other with water and passing it to her friend.

They both drank their glasses down quickly.

"I've got my first sold out matinee performance in eleven hours," Aurora said once she'd finished.

"I know," Mulan replied, pouring herself another, pointing to her fridge where she'd pinned up her own ticket to _Superman, the Ballet_.

Aurora laughed at the stupid name and then her face fell.

"I always imagined Phillip would be there when I got my first big performance."

Mulan had already finished her second glass and was pouring another.

"Do you think he's still alive?"

Mulan looked away, placing the bottle and glass down on the counter.

"I don't know," she said truthfully.

"What's that?" Aurora asked, suddenly distracted, taking Mulan's hands in hers. There, on Mulan's fingertips and palms were coloured smudges.

"Oh, I'm painting."

Aurora scoffed and tried to imagine Mulan doing something so messy.

"I _am_!" Mulan insisted, snatching her hand away and taking another drink with a laugh.

"I have to see this," Aurora said, standing and running down the hall to Mulan's bedroom. As usual, it was nothing but a, albeit now blurry, brown and white box.

Aurora frowned and spun, heading toward the spare room that she'd never before bothered to look at.  
Mulan hurried down the hall and placed her hand over the door handle.

"No," she said.

"I want to see some art," Aurora pleaded, "And it's been _such_ a bad day."

Mulan shook her head and held the handle roughly.

"One day?" Aurora asked.

"Probably not," Mulan laughed.

Aurora gave up and went back into the kitchen where she quickly downed another glass of water.  
Mulan joined her where she progressively got drunker as Aurora got a little more sober.  
Eventually, it was the early hours of the morning, the two of them having discussed every possible subject they could think of, trying to distract each other from Phillip.

"And I took judo for four years, but it only got in the way of my kung fu training," Mulan was saying, "They're very different practises, you know? Completely different set of rules. They'll both fuck somebody up, though."

"I never learned to fight _but _I took tap, jazz and ballet since I was three," Aurora said with a hiccup, "I tried hip hop but I just looked stupid."

"Hip hop," Mulan said, laughing. Cackling, more like. Aurora tried to look offended, but she'd never seen Mulan laugh like she was now. She looked so happy. An involuntary smile bubbled to Aurora's lips as she studied her friend's face.

She was really beautiful, Aurora noticed. She'd always known, but before it was only because she was worried about such a gorgeous woman working in such close quarters to her husband. Now she was noticing it in a different way.

"What?" Mulan had finally finished laughing and was studying Aurora with a frown.

"You're preeeeeetty," Aurora laughed.

Mulan's face relaxed into a smile and she turned away from Aurora, smiling into the air straight ahead.  
They were sitting side by side in the kitchen, on the floor. The lino was cold and hard but neither of them had noticed.

"Why are you single?" Aurora's question threw Mulan off.

"Married to my job," she said simply, her smile sliding away.

Without speaking, they both knew that they were thinking about Phillip again.

"Who was the last person you went on a date with?" Aurora changed the subject again.

Mulan blew out a long breath, thinking.

"God, Jimmy Gallagher in twelfth grade, I think, was my last _proper_ date."

"Wow. What?"

"I know; it's been a while."

"What about your last _im_proper date?" Aurora asked, raising her eyebrows and her glass to her mouth.

Mulan pursed her lips. Her last answer had been a lie. She'd gone on a date less than a year ago – it just wasn't something she felt ready to talk to Aurora about.  
Her date with Jimmy Gallagher had been the last time she'd even gone out with a _boy_.  
It was after that that she'd been asked out by Elsie Pritchard and they saw each other in secret for over a year. Elsie had broken up with her, wanting something more open, more real and less ashamed.  
Phillip was the first person besides Elsie that she'd told. He'd encouraged her to come out. She'd been on several dates since then.  
He was a good man; her best friend. She owed him a lot.

"I don't remember," Mulan lied again.

"Sure," Aurora snorted, filling her glass again.

There was a pause, both of them thinking.

"Did you know our marriage was organised?"

"Yeah, Phillip mentioned it."

"I didn't even know him when my father told me that I was promised to him. His family owns a lot of shares in our company and he wanted control back so... Boom. Arranged marriage."

"You loved each other, though?" Mulan realised her mistake and hurriedly tried to fix it, "Love each other, I mean."

"I grew to love him," Aurora said, "I made myself. It was easy enough though."

Her sentence was followed by a smile.

"He's a great man," Mulan said.

"He really is."

Mulan looked down at their glasses, wondering if they maybe should have been using mixers as well.  
When she looked up, Aurora was still considering her, her head cocked to one side. She leaned forward slowly, with more than enough time for Mulan to move away, but she felt slow and stuck.  
Aurora's kiss was soft and felt like a question.  
It was her way of asking Mulan how she felt without getting tangled in words. Mulan pulled back, and then she replied.  
Their kiss was messy and passionate. Mulan was soft, though her kiss was hard.  
Aurora thought about Phillip, his constant stubble never allowed for such rough kisses.  
Mulan tore away suddenly, shaking her head.

"What?" the word seemed to burst out of Mulan, almost angrily.

Aurora felt tears tease their way out of her eyes and she stood, shaking.

"I'm sorry," she said, "I'm so sorry."

She stood and left and quickly and steadily as she could. Mulan didn't try to stop her.


	6. Chapter 6

"The crowd was holding its collective breath out there – the finale was incredible," the interviewer was saying. Aurora was barely paying attention.

"Yeah, we've been training for a long time now, just to get every movement perfect because there's so much happening on stage in terms of technical equipment and things – just to get the effects perfect. And the cast is so talented and such hard workers," she said, using a rehearsed answer that didn't really answer anything.

"It's so great to see so many males in lead positions, don't you think?"

_ Yeah, _she thought sarcastically,_ there aren't enough males in charge._

"Sure," she said, "Of course I think the narrative is still really being driven by females, but it is nice to see more men taking dancing seriously and more than just a girls' game."

"I think that's all, thank you for your time."

She smiled politely, pursing her lips. The interviewer left after shaking Aurora's hand briefly, shutting the door behind him.  
Aurora stared into her reflection, breathing deeply. She seized a wipe from her makeup set, scrubbing at her face roughly. She had just finished her matinee performance and there was another in less than two hours, when the makeup artists would have to re-do her face. They'd instructed her to leave it on but she felt dirty.  
She wondered if Mulan had come along to the performance. She'd even tried to look out at the audience a few times but the lights were so bright that she could barely see further than the edge of the stage.  
There was a knock at the door and someone called her name. She ignored it, but the door swung open slowly, anyway.

"What's up with you?" Esmeralda asked, heaving herself somehow gracefully into the armchair behind Aurora in the small room.

"Hello Esme, please come in Esme," Aurora said robotically, scrubbing her face.

Esmeralda, still in her heavy dance makeup and tight faux suit, looked a little ridiculous; it went so against her usual bohemian look and feel. Her hair was so tight on her head that it looked somewhat painful.

"Are you taking off your face already?" Esmeralda asked, "You know you have another performance soon?"

"I'm aware," Aurora said snippily.

"It's okay if you drop out," Esmeralda said with a cheeky smile, "I hear you have a great understudy."

Esmeralda was a great dancer, perhaps even better than Aurora but she was as talented as she was unreliable so she kept losing out roles.  
Aurora smiled despite herself, dragging a clean wipe across her jaw and leaning back to ensure she'd removed all of it.

"What's wrong, Rora?" Esmeralda asked, suddenly serious.

Aurora shrugged.  
Esmeralda placed a hand on her shoulder and laid her head down on Aurora's shoulder.

"You missed three of your marks and added an extra spin on your first solo," Esmeralda said, hitting her head against Aurora's playfully.

"I'm starting to miss him less," Aurora said, her eyes suddenly filled with tears, "I'm starting to think about someone else."

That was unexpected. Esmeralda had always seen Aurora and Phillip as the closest thing to true love that she'd seen. Aurora had always seemed so in love.  
But he had been gone for over half a year now, and it was only natural for Aurora to move on. Esmeralda told her so, but it didn't stop Aurora's flow of tears.

"I don't know what to do," she said, "I don't know if he's coming back and I don't know how I feel and I don't..."

Esmeralda threw herself around her friend, gripping her while she cried.

"How do you feel about this 'someone else'?" Esmeralda prompted.

"I'm not sure," Aurora admitted, "It's... different. It's new. And she's wonderful."

Upon hearing her say 'she', Esmeralda's grip loosened for only a second, but it was enough for Aurora to notice.

"And you have... _romantic_ feelings toward this girl?"

"I think I do, yeah," Aurora sobbed.

"I think that Phillip would understand," Esmeralda said slowly, "That he has been gone for a while. And that you found someone to help you cope with your loss. This has been a very sad time for you, hasn't it?"

Aurora nodded.

"And this person... _she_ makes you happy?"

Aurora nodded again.

"Don't you think that Phillip would want you to feel happiness?"


	7. Chapter 7

It was a little after nine p.m. when Aurora had finished her second performance as Lois Lane, showered, stretched and changed. She was standing at the door of Mulan's house when the door flung open on its' own.  
Mulan stood there, her eyes puffy and her hands covered in paint.

"What, have you been finger painting?"

"A little."

Aurora stood awkwardly, shifting her weight before she crossed the threshold and threw herself into Mulan's arms.

They embraced, each of them clinging tight to each other before they broke away and kissed.  
Mulan's hands, still wet, painted blue lines through Aurora's hair and down her back.  
They stumbled into the room, a messy mass of limbs and hair, and fell onto the bed in a tangle.

* * *

Mulan sat up, swinging her legs off the bed and slipping back into her underwear. It was morning now and neither of them had fallen asleep.

"When did you get this?" Aurora asked while stroking a tattoo on Mulan's left ribcage.

"I got it in the army when I was seventeen," she said.

"I thought you had to be eighteen to enlist?" Aurora asked.

Mulan shrugged and smiled in answer.

"What does it mean?" she asked, cocking her head to examine the foreign letters.

"A gem is not polished without rubbing."

"...What does that mean?"

"A man is not perfected without trials."

She nodded, suddenly feeling uncultured, toying with the blanket, finding paint splotched on the sheets.

"What were you painting?"

Mulan blushed and said nothing, standing and heading toward the bathroom.  
Once the door had shut behind her, Aurora stood and padded, still naked, to the spare room, pushing the door open slightly, her eyes shut tight.  
She sighed and pulled the door closed again, spinning around to be faced with Mulan.

"I didn't look," she said quickly, "I swear."

Mulan reached behind her and pushed the door open.  
Aurora smiled and turned to look.

"It's so messy!"

"It's not usually," Mulan said, biting her lip, "You interrupted me; I haven't had a chance to put everything back where it should be."

She walked in and started picking up the open and spilled paint bottles and a hand closed over hers.

"Leave it."

Aurora walked around the easel and smiled, taking in the painting.

"I was inspired," Mulan blushed.

"You came to my performance."

"Of course I did."

It was a beautiful, almost abstract, picture of Aurora dancing.  
Aurora could almost see actual movement in the image.  
The entire thing was several different hues of blue and green; Mulan had done her best to match the colours to the various shades of Aurora's eyes, mostly using her palms and fingertips instead of brushes and sponges.  
The shoes were Aurora's eyes when she was upset, the dress when she was tired; the stage when she was laughing. Although Mulan would never tell her that and risk her running away.

But it was too late because it was staring at this picture that Aurora realised that Mulan was in love with her.

It was also then that she realised she hadn't thought of Phillip once that morning or at any point the previous night.  
She suddenly felt aware of her nakedness and covered herself self-consciously, trying not to let her face drop.

"It's beautiful," she said honestly.

"What's wrong?" Mulan studied her.

"I think I have to go."

Mulan nodded and kissed her on the forehead, letting her leave the room and the house without another word, pretending not to notice that her eyes were flickering with the colour of the ballet slippers.

* * *

Aurora padded barefoot to the centre of the wooden floor and posed. The middle of act two; Lois' Lovesong. It was the dance that Aurora performed alone, after her first encounter with Superman. A lot of spins and swoons, leaps and smiles.  
She was back in the studio. It was mostly deserted except for a class of children who were two stories below her. The whole floor was completely still and Aurora danced alone, with no music, counting the beats in her head.  
She completed the piece flawlessly, smiling before she remembered why she'd rushed to the dance floor in the first place. In anger, she went back to counting beats and started moving through the section of dance furiously.

"You're meant to be in love."

She stopped dancing and spun quickly to be faced with Esmeralda.

"What's wrong?" Esmeralda asked, bringing her hand up to brush Aurora's face.

Aurora hadn't even realised that she'd been crying. She suddenly broke down, slipping to the floor in front of her friend, her face in her hands.

"Oh, no, no no..." Esmeralda sat near her, hugging her as tight she could.

Aurora felt awash with guilt and sadness and madness and it came rushing out painfully.

"It's Mulan," she blurted.

"I know," Esmeralda said, clinging to her friend.

Aurora looked up, surprised.

"You've been spending a lot of time with her," Esmeralda said, "and she's clever and reliable and so like your Phillip in so many ways."

Aurora hid her face in her friend, sobbing softly.

"I think she might love me."

"How couldn't she?"

"I don't know what I'm doing."

"No one does."

"What do I do, Esme?"

"You know what I'd do."

Esmeralda was a blindly romantic and dangerously passionate person. Aurora knew the answer before she'd even asked. Esmeralda would surely convince her into following her heart; into pursuing a difficult and even stupid course if it will bring you love and happiness.

"Tell me, anyway."

"Stop crying. Go after her."


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: I wrote this chapter really quickly,**** before I could change my mind so I'm sorry if it's not very good...** I was unsure whether or not bringing Phillip into the story would be a good idea so I wasn't too keen on writing this one.  
But I really like the idea of him being the Sleeping Beauty for once, so here it is :)

* * *

The room came into view slowly.  
The tiled ceiling was spotless and white.  
Phillip blinked slowly, trying to turn his disobedient head to see what was around him.  
In his head was a weight that was too heavy and his body was too weak, so he stayed squinting at the ceiling, trying to keep his lead eyelids from falling shut.

He was faintly aware of a beeping noise, and the smell of illness and heavy disinfectant.

_Hopsital_, he thought.

He heard approaching footsteps and let his eyes relax shut.

"How are you doing today, Mr Borealis?" the voice he heard sounded faraway and blocked, as if he was hearing it underwater.

_Borealis?_ he thought, _My name is Prince, isn't it?_

Aurora Borealis was the name for the Northern Lights.  
It was a joke that Royce Mortimer had thought up when he had kidnapped Phillip and shot him full of a barbiturate drug, forcing him to fall into a medically induced coma.  
Mortimer had planted this false ID on him and blackmailed the Doctor who had been assigned to him to redistribute the sleeping drug as necessary.  
He had done this instead of simply killing Phillip under the idea that the case against him might be reopened and he might need someone to torture to tell him about any evidence that they had against him.

"It's time for your stretches," the voice continued.

Phillip felt the blanket roll down him until it reached his feet and heard it being folded.  
He tried to open his eyes but it felt like his energy had been completely tapped.  
He felt exhausted.

Phillip felt vague memories of this person, who he felt holding and bending his left ankle.  
She had once introduced herself as Paula. It had been months ago, when Phillip had had his first, and up until a few minutes ago, his only, bout of slight consciousness.

_"I'm not meant to be in here," she had explained, "I'm assisting another patient next door - another coma patient. His family has paid for my medical expertise; I'm the best there is."_

_Phillip's eyes were shut tight, but he was sure he could hear a smile in her voice. She was proud of herself._

_"But I overheard some of the nurses talking about you and how you had no family and no visitors. And that's not fair, everyone should have someone so... here I am."_

Phillip felt her arms move up his leg and bend him at his knee. Her touch was soft but forceful. It felt good to Phillip to be moved.

_How long have I been out?_ he wondered. He wanted to ask what the date was. He wanted to ask about his fiance?  
_Is she okay?_ the words got stuck in his chest.  
He wanted to ask how he got there.

The last thing he remembered was going to work in the morning. No... the computer. What was significant about his work computer?

Thinking exhausted him and Phillip felt what little energy he had leaving him.

"You're not meant to be here," he heard a man say.

Paula didn't drop his leg. The pressure on his knee continued.

"I'm Paula, a physiotherapist, I work here in the hospital."

"Do you have authorisation to treat this patient?"

"I've authorised myself."

After that, things got a little hazy for Phillip, and he was only very vaguely aware of the ensuing argument.

"I'll just finish this session," Paula was arguing.

The Doctor in front of her sighed. He looked wary and tired.  
He thought that he should clear this girl out of the room. Mortimer would be furious if he knew that someone had taken a interest in Phillip.  
But it had been such a long day and he just wanted to put the kid back to sleep and go home.

"I have to change his drip," he said, sighing in resign.

"Go ahead," Paula said.

"There's no point in physical therapy," Doctor Allswissend said, approaching Phillip, "He's never waking up."

"Why is he being kept alive, then?" Paula asked, "From what I hear, he doesn't have any family so who's paying for this expensive hospital room and all of this equipment?"

"You've heard wrong," the Doctor said, taking out a syringe, "You shouldn't listen to hospital gossip; he's being taken care of."

He pushed the drug into Phillip's drip, letting it fall into him slowly.

"You don't have permission to treat this patient," he said, turning his attention back to Paula, "I don't want to see you in this room again."

_That ought to take care of it,_ he thought, yawning as he left the room. Paula rolled her eyes.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of you, Mr Borealis."

"Mis...t...r... Pr... int..."

Paula's eyes snapped up to Phillip's mouth, where the raspy, slow sentence had just been choked out.

"Doctor?" she shouted, rising and rushing to the door, "Doctor, he spoke!"

Doctor Allswissend spun, quickly for an old man, and to Paula's shock, he looked horrified.

"Are you sure?" he asked, shuffling back into the room and standing at Phillip's side, checking the drip.

"Yes," Paula said.

The Doctor checked over a few things before calming proclaiming that it was probably just trapped gas.  
Paula studied his face. Suspiciously, he still looked slightly scared.

"You're right," she said finally, "It didn't actually sound like words."

"I'm afraid that I'm going to have to cut your stretching session short," Dr Allswissend said, pretending to perform some kind of checkup on Phillip.

Paula nodded and agreed, her head spinning.  
She knew that something had been wrong here; something strange about the doctor and the circumstances.  
She left the room and made her way to the staff bathroom where she found herself in a stall and let her head drop into her hands.  
She took a few deep breaths before taking a pen out of her bag.

_Mr Print,_ she scribbled roughly onto the back of her hand.

_Is that your real name? _she thought, wishing that she could speak to Louis Borealis, _Is that the name of the person who put you here?_

Paula groaned and shook her head, wondering what she'd just gotten herself into.


End file.
